Dreamy Melodies For Your Dryme
by Jaki May
Summary: Demyx is gone, Organization XIII's members are in the middle of somewhere which is in the middle of Nowhere, and the poor lot of them are being taunted by a fellow who looks like Demyx, but isn't Demyx. ... Huh? Chapter Three: Lazy Days to Brain...
1. A Beginning Before It Began

**Let's see...**

**Okay, Disclaimer first: I, Jaki May, DO NOT own Kingdom Hearts II or any of the Kingdom Hearts franchise, nor do I own the interprise/company/idkwhatitis Square Enix, in which the Kingdom Hearts series belongs to. I DO NOT own any of the characters used in Kingdom Hearts II, nor the enviroments featured within it. And... all the other stuff I missed.**

**Warnings now: WARNING, this story may contain unintentional OOCness, a storyline that may make not much sense except to moi (the author), minor swearing, a battle scene that seems weird even to me, and some English language issues.**

**Next, Summary time: Simple. ... Okay, maybe not simple. It will be a bit hard to explain. The WHOLE plot is that the Organization has been whisked away to a world they didn't even know existed, Demyx is nowhere to be found, and they are being taunted by someone who looks a **_**whole lot**_** like him... But isn't him...?**

**This chapter's summary? Well... here: A prologue, maybe. Probably. Features Demyx before the official plot takes its toll, yus? Poor, poor Demyx...**

_"Let's just hope you'll admit when you are falling..."_

"Huh?"

"Yes, Demyx?" growled Saix, his hood up and complete attention towards the more timid Nobody. The scar that crossed between his two glowing eyes edged with intensity, closer to being a jagged and horrid X.

Standing beside Saix, a tall, broad man whose black hood covered his own face placed a firm hand onto the Luna Diviner's shoulder in a patient yet demanding clutch. "Easy there, Saix," said Lexaeus, tightening his grip, "There's no reason to be so easily upset with Demyx here." He nodded toward the mentioned Nobody, who stood in a defensive stance behind the ripped man, black hood up as well. Saix turned to Lexaeus and glared at both him and Demyx, then without a sound snapped back to walking in front of the two, pulling his shoulder out of Lexaeus's grip. As he walked, his hand reached up to the spot where Lexaeus had held him and rubbed away the small bit of pain lingering there.

With a small gulp, Demyx shuffled out of Lexaeus's shadow to stand beside the man. "Thanks," muttered Demyx, audible only to Lexaeus's ears. "Saix had that look in his eyes again," he paused, then added, "and his scar..."

In a brief side-glance, Lexaeus silently told the shorter man beside him he did not want to hear it. Demyx bit his lip down, and paced without a sound, trailing behind his superiors. Lexaeus sped up to the side of Saix, leaving Demyx behind even further. In front of him, he caught the scattered pieces of conversation not meant for his ears to hear:

"... honestly..."

"... how such a clumsy Nobody..."

"He does not have emotions... nor do we..."

"True... it shocks me still..."

"... indeed... so it does to me also..."

Demyx bit his lip harder, slowing his pace until their backs became smaller and smaller.

"... does well as an actor..."

"He does, doesn't he..."

"Hmph... so much as to fake fear itself..."

"... and gratitude..."

Farther and farther away they walked, turning around one a corner of one of the looming night-black skyscrapers, disappearing into the dark back alleys and out of sight. Demyx eyed where they vanished, taking light steps to a complete stop. A tall skyscraper with a beaming neon billboard as its face stood behind him, alongside a dumpster of trash and the overturned truck that rested among the debris. Winding flat stairs lay before the double doors of the building, welcoming potential guests with bleak and blank windows.

When no one came out to command him to follow suit, or to rant at him for not walking fast enough, Demyx let out a deep breath. Sure that neither Saix nor Lexaeus could hear him, he whispered to himself, "At least I can act grateful..."

He pulled down his hood using both gloved hands, exposing his face to the eerie light of Kingdom Hearts. A light shower began to appear in the World That Never Was, sprinkling pavement, building and Nobody alike. Inhaling the dewy scent of the rain, the words of what the other guys said began to ebb away from Demyx's mind.

Instead, he started to focus on what he thought he heard earlier on. "Man," he said, "I wonder what was that all about..."

A tiny flash of orange light glimmered above his face, and with a "Huh?" Demyx switched his eyes and face to the air above. There, suspended by a silent invisible wind, floated a glowing orange heart right over the head of Demyx. "Whoa..." he breathed.

The orange heart bounced up and down in a playful motion, then propelled itself towards the pale form of Kingdom Hearts. Grinning a goofy grin, Demyx followed the heart's progress as it got closer and closer to becoming one with the moon and its pinkish aura.

As the orange heart soared over the Castle, Demyx had half a mind to call over anybody to help him witness the joining of a heart to thee Heart. "Come on, come on," Demyx urged in a sudden uplifting mood, "you're almost there!"

He could see that the heart had already made its way up above the Altar of Naught, where the Superior probably stood, checking on Kingdom Hearts progression to becoming more whole and powerful. The heart hesitated right before it could be part of the enormous moon in front of it.

"Oh, come on!" exclaimed Demyx, "You're practically-" the heart veered to the left in a sudden turn, "... What the..." The heart glowed even brighter, soaring away from Kingdom Hearts, away from the Castle That Never Was, right into the direction of where a stunned Demyx stood.

_"Hey... I just realized something..."_

"Huh? That voice again-" blinked Demyx. A blinding flash of orange illuminated the entire opening before Memory's Skyscraper, snapping Demyx out of his thoughts. The orange heart that once looked like a potential addition to Kingdom Hearts now came plummeting at a shocking speed onto the Nobody, blurred and disoriented into a shape that looked less like a heart every passing second. Only when the smear of orange and light came to being only a few feet from his face did Demyx finally react to the sudden threat. In an act of both instinct and practice, he curved his shoulders and back just a bit for his head to move a few inches to the right.

The "heart" whooshed pass Demyx's left ear, ascending in a crescent-shaped move. Yelping, Demyx dropped to the wet pavement and rolled into a more defensive position, the drizzle of rain becoming heavier with the rising "battle".

With a twist of a smooth descent, the "heart" plummeted once again straights towards the Nobody. Raising his dominant hand, Demyx opened up his palm and summoned a tight ball of dense water. In a splash of blue and white, Demyx's giant Sitar appeared, and he quickly grabbed the instrument into a batting stance. Using one hand only, Demyx swung his Sitar blindly, eyes somewhat closed, the "heart" just within reach of his wide swing.

A stroke of luck laced his swing heavily, for the widest part of the Sitar made hard contact with the "heart", and acting accordingly to one of Newton's Laws of Motion, halted both "heart" and Sitar into place.

Sweating despite being cold and drenched to the skin underneath his cloak, Demyx dripped beads of strength into his arm, forcing the Sitar to push against the "heart". The "heart" let out a whirl of sound, hissing and buzzing and growing ever brighter, like a Twilight Crystal at its purest. For just a moment, it let its strength drop to prepare for another attack. That one moment of no resistance was all Demyx needed.

The Sitar hit the "heart" with a good amount of power, sending the "heart" whizzing into the sky as a twinkle.

Demyx panted, staring at the piece of dark clouds that the "heart" had disappeared. Regaining his composure, or whatever strips of composure he had, he straightened his back and began to check the damage done to his Sitar.

"Oh, Arpeggio," Demyx pined, rubbing the part of the instrument that made contact with the "heart", "I'm sorry for using you as a bat." With a small wave of his hand, the Sitar vaporized away into bubbles. In silence and rain, the Nobody felt something close to relief, which faded away in about 4 seconds.

Demyx sighed, then put his hand on his chin in a pondering posture. "Now," he asked himself, "what in Arpeggio's name was that all about?"

_"Yeah, I agree... What's the big idea!"_

"Son of a-" Demyx stammered, looking around in a frantic manner. The storm that had built up a steady flow of rain dispersed, leaving a dark sky of stars in its wake. Shaken by the sudden absence of the cool droplets, Demyx started to head toward the direction Lexaeus and Saix took, finally remembering that he wasn't alone...

He only took one step forward when a horrid shine of orange and light erupted behind him. Demyx gulped down a scream, staring straight forward, not daring to look backwards. A bit of sparks floated in front of him, the orange glow growing monstrous and wide. Not waiting to see what happens next, he broke into a quick dash, full of desperation and illogical-ness. Of course, the thing chasing poor Demyx followed with ease.

_"Now then, where was I?"_

"Gah!" Demyx clutched his ears, yelling while running, "Get away from me, damn it!"

He didn't have to look around him to see that the pools of water that had formed from the rain evaporated away at an increasing rate; he could feel the warmth emitting from the thing behind him. He began regretting ever straying so far away from Saix and Lexaeus. Demyx could see the corner of the building now, and it looked so close that a small beam of hope lit in his eyes...

_"Oh, yes... now I remember."_

... to be crushed like Oogie Boogie's bug underneath Santa Claus's boot. A twitchy little antenna rose from the ground, revealing the round head of a Shadow. The location of where it appeared: the very spot in front of Demyx's right boot. Not noticing the sudden obstacle, Demyx tripped on the Shadow in an ungraceful manner, falling head first onto the ground.

The little Shadow did not falter from being bounced on by a Nobody, and continued rising from the ground. Demyx's nose smashed off the concrete, a shot of pain streaking through his face.

_"Ahem..."_

Demyx grabbed the bridge of his nose, trying to numb the throbbing pain, looking backwards for just a bit. He turned just in time to see the Heartless that had tripped him be ripped to shreds by invisible hands, as if it were a rag doll. Unlike the normal vanishing of slain Heartless bodies, the limbs of the unfortunate Shadow stayed intact and visible, tossed aside by the invisible force as Demyx looked on. Demyx gagged from the sight, and attempted to crawl around the corner, a few yards away from him now...

_"Hey... where you going..."_

"Oh, man," Demyx whispered. He stayed still for a bit, trying to come up with anything that can help him. A sudden idea flashed his mind, making him blink. He gave a large inhale, then flipped himself over to face his adversary. One whole second passed, and he suddenly wished he didn't flip over...

_"Awesome."_

Demyx knew fear didn't exist in Nobodies, or regret, or surprise, but right now... he was so close to feeling them that they felt like smooth boulders in the gut of his body. He crawled backwards, one hand at a time, feeling the blunt edge of the building on his fingertips...

_"You, my dear Nobody..."_

Some unspoken law that gripped the home of the Nobodies shattered, and pure daylight broke out. At least, in one area only, this was right in front of the crawling Demyx. Crying out, he shielded his eyes from the blinding light...

_"... make the most excellent candidate..."_

He didn't want to hear it, he didn't want to hear it, _he didn't want to hear it, __**he didn't want to-**_

_"... _for **me**_."_

Demyx screamed, "_HEEEEEEEEEEELLLP-_!!!"

**-**

"Hrm..."

"Yes, Xigbar?"

"... Nothin'. Just had this chill, like a fellow teaser is being mauled right now..."

"Humph."


	2. Within a Rotunda

**Author's Note: I am VERY, VERY, VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY SORRY that I haven't updated in a LOOOOONG time. T.T I had both writer's block and, what my little "sister" calls, LAZYITIS. I hope that you all forgive me. T.T**

**Disclaimer: In the first chapter.**

**---**

"That, and gratitude it seems," said Lexaeus, strolling alongside his fellow Nobody, Saix, "He excels in this rather naturally."

Massaging his shoulder with two of his fingers, Saix responded in a neutral voice, "Which is not a good thing. We Nobodies shouldn't be distracted by the farce of what we believe to be "feelings", nor can we waste our precious time when we have a more significant goal at hand. Am I correct?" The pain in his shoulder reduced itself into only a slight foreign throbbing, and he dropped his hand down to his side.

"I suppose..." Lexaeus said, walking around the sharp corner of a tall building that contributed one black wall to a small alleyway. As he paced to the end of the alleyway, he added, "Though, what are we if we cannot even spare some time to remember what it was like?" Saying this, he raised his hand and waved a summons for a Corridor of Darkness.

Saix halted in his steps, looking at the larger man in a peculiar way as he disappeared into the swirls of darkness that the portal held. Saix turned to glimpse back at the younger Nobody, Demyx. There he stood in the open, breathing the air and seeming to enjoy the light downpour of rain that began fall from the sky. In the deep abyss of his mind, the Berserker noted how far, far away Demyx seemed to be from the rest of them. Turning away from the scene, he let the eerie aura of soft light engulf him to wash away such thoughts, and he closed his eyes. He could feel his primal instincts begin to churn in his chest, powerful and dark instincts, soft and innocent instincts maybe, instincts that screamed for no restraint and clawed to shatter the sanity of his mind and spill its contents into lunacy and rage-

He snapped open his lids, awakening from the trance. Immediately he stepped into the shadow casted by the building next to him, out of sight of the large heart-shaped moon. The thing that had threatened to rip his chest open slinked away in disappointment, leaving the familiar feeling of an empty hole behind.

Kingdom Hearts beckoned to him from afar, coaxing him to come out from the shadows that limited its pure moonlight so...

Releasing his breath, Saix ignored its call and made quick pace to the portal. The light shower of rain continued on in rings of pitter-patter, little clear puddles beginning to form on the black concrete.

Before stepping in the dark portal and leaving the grounds of the World That Never Was, he said to himself, "To remember..." He looked back to the open space where Demyx resided, still enjoying both the drops of water and moonlight probably, and a sound escaped his lips, "Tch." He twisted himself back to the portal and through it he went, the darkness embracing him and blinding him of any moonlight, soft rain and the thoughts of memories for a few fleeting moments.

-

In the darkness Lexaeus stood, waiting in patience with his arms folded across his chest. Saix caught sight of him and walked towards the larger man, his footstep's echoes rushing beyond any invisible walls and never to return again. When he stood beside the man, Saix turned around to face the portal, and raised his hand to dismiss it. Lexaeus caught his wrist before he could, though, and said, "Wait, leave it open so Demyx will not get lost when he finally catches up," then he released his wrist.

Saix side-glanced him, and kept his hand up. Lexaeus added, "Remember what happened two months ago? When he was supposed to arrive in Port Royal, and instead wounded up in Singapore?"

The Berserker's mouth almost twitched into a smirk when the memory of that was recalled, saying, "Yes, I do, and I also remember how he had came waltzing through the Corridor into the Castle as if he'd been a drunk, no-good pirate his entire youth." With that being said, he let his hand fall and allowed the portal to continue on.

Nodding, Lexaeus summoned another portal to appear, and said, "We're going to leave this one open too, for Demyx."

Agreeing in a nod of his own, Saix walked in a swift motion into the portal, not waiting for Lexaeus to go through first. Behind him, he could hear a "Huh," definitely from the senior member of the pair.

The swirls of black, purple and blue surrounded him for about a few moments, and released him as he stepped onto a dim, white marble floor. The room Saix had strolled into what resembled a white rotunda, with an amount of tall pillars of pale stone lining the circular walls. On the floor, rings of different metallic elements created the effect of a lustrous ripple, all of them leading to a few round steps. Saix took a few steps forward, and stopped after realizing how loud the sounds of his boots squeaked.

"So it was you who took the new pair of boots that I had made for Zexion." Saix twisted his neck and shoulders around to see Lexaeus had arrived. In his eyes, Saix could spot out the impression of smugness written on Lexaeus's face, maybe.

Saix replied in a calm voice, "I simply found them lying around with no one there to claim them." He then pulled down his black hood with two hands, releasing his wind blue hair from its restraint and fully revealing the X-shaped scar between his eyes. It had since been reduced to two slight lines crossing each other.

His eyes turned back to the altar, observing it with the smallest ounce of curiosity. Saix's eyes traced the altar from its intricate design of colorless vines to the smooth depression carved into the middle. Nothing interesting about it really, beside its design; could have been a fourth step for all Saix cared. Skipping the rest of the altar to look at the walls, he noticed one short crack that traced the lining where the floor met the bottom of the wall. He also, finally, noticed that there were no other holes or cracks or any sort of opening at all in the wall, not one window or door, just that single crack. A rather beautiful rotunda chamber? Yes. No way to come in or escape? No. Definitely not a place for one to be trapped within.

Lexaeus must have noticed Saix's doubt of the place, for he put one boot forward to the altar, and said, "It isn't the room itself, it's what is resting within the altar that you should check on."

"Oh?" Saix replied. He made a quick glance to the mentioned altar.

"Yes," Lexaeus said, pulling down his own hood, "The main goal of this mission is to locate the heart of this world, because, apparently, the heart is right in front of us. Out in the open. A powerful one, too." He then made a good pace towards the altar; his orange-brown hair stroked back, his sharp chin and cheek bones jutting out among his facial features. Saix followed him close by, more curious to see what the man wanted to point out to him.

As they reached the marble structure, Saix started to see what laid in the bowl-like depression: a pile of black dirt, lying with sharp contrast to its white surroundings. Saix raised one bluish eyebrow, and looked to Lexaeus in a questioned gaze.

Sighing, Lexaeus muttered, "This is why we have to brief the lot of you before we go on missions like this..." then straight out pointed his finger at what Saix had missed.

The Berserker followed the direction of where Lexaeus's finger pointed. There in the black dirt, almost as dark-colored as the soil it stood upon, was a little twig, barely reaching 5 inches to the max. For a few moments, Saix stared at the twig, then looked at Lexaeus, then looked back at the twig.

"... What is that?"

Pointing again, Lexaeus answered, "That is the reason why we're here in the first place." Walking around the altar along the lowest step, he said, "There is also a reason why the three of us were chosen for this mission. I was chosen for my element with the earth. Demyx was chosen for his element of water." He stopped his walking when he had gotten halfway around the altar, then in a matter-of-fact voice, he said, "You were chosen because you are the only one among us who is close enough to resemble the locals here, who seem to have a close relationship with their moon."

"Really," Saix said. He then shook his head, and added, "I agree with you now. There should be meetings so we could be briefed before missions."

"True, true," Lexaeus said, nodding his head, "Honestly, I..." he trailed off, looking off into the distance. Suddenly, he twisted his neck toward the spot where the portal still stood.

"...Lexaeus?" asked Saix.

Lexaeus raised on gloved hand, saying, "Didn't you hear that?"

Unsure, Saix said, "Hear what?"

The larger man started to walk toward the dark portal, lending an ear to the silent sounds of shadows. After a few minutes of awkward naught and silence, Lexaeus said, "I thought I heard someone scream."

More silence followed, then Saix took a few careful steps towards Lexaeus, somewhat confused at the sudden change of subject. "A scream," he finally asked, "from the Corridors?"

Lexaeus looked to him in such a way that it made something run a sharp and cold chill down Saix's spine. "Yes," Lexaeus answered, "and it sounded very much like Demyx's voice." Then, he walked closer to the portal, a wary stance in the way he walked.

Saix hesitated just a bit, even when Lexaeus passed him by in a more hurried mode, the decided to follow him. Probably just a sudden Heartless attack, Saix thought.

"Prepare yourself for anything, Saix," Lexaeus warned, now standing in front of the portal.

"Even if it's just a few Shadows?" replied Saix in a curt voice.

"Even if it's just a few-"

A small shiny glint alit from the Corridor. Saix didn't see it; Lexaeus did.

"What is-" Lexaeus started, and then saw the upcoming thing. "MOVE!" he screamed, but Saix didn't understand and therefore didn't move much.

In a swift and smooth stretch of his arm, Lexaeus shoved Saix behind the nearest pillar, right before the Corridor of darkness filled with light. Spilling into the chamber like fluid water, the light made the whole place become blinding.

The shadows created from the impact of the sudden illumination intensified, including the straight one that Saix found himself in. As the shadow grew more black and menacing, the already white rotunda brightened and whitened to the peak of being ridiculous.

The room became warmer, flashing and screaming in the bath of the whiteness. Sweating and uncomfortable, Saix began to lose sight of any definition that used to be there in front of him: Lexaeus, the floor, the pillars, the altar, himself, so on and so on. With whirling sounds swallowing down his hearing, a thought flashed across his mind that he probably was going to spend the rest of his empty life in a heated simplicity...

As soon as the whole thing happened, it ended.

Saix didn't actually, as far as honesty can go, believe that the white light and heat just vanished in one instant, at first. But then, the air started to cool down a bit, and Saix's temple started to drip with little sweat drops that eagerly absorbed in the coolness with ease. Sensing he was sweating, Saix swiftly pulled out a maroon-colored handkerchief out of his coat's pocket and wiped away the sweat forming. He folded it into four squares, the dampened part (Brief mental picture, anyone?) on the inside of the folds, before tucking it back into his pocket.

He will not lose his calm attitude, not right now, anyway. Might as well reserve it for whatever he is going to encounter once he gathers the stamina to even stand up.

Well… Saix sat in the faint shadow of the pillar with a cooling head and an empty stomach, waiting to get that stamina back. His stomach gave off a grumble of emptiness.

He needed food soon, and he knew it. Breathing deeply, Saix wobbled unsteadily onto his feet, leaning against the pillar for support. Bit by bit did he edge toward the openness of the rotunda, close to both exposing himself and leaving the safety of the shadow. Honestly, he never actually felt this weary for a long time, not since the time Vexen decided to experiment on the "neophytes" in their sleep.

He was coming close to the edge of the shadow now, ready yet unprepared to face what he had to face. Tiny, shiny beads of sweat returned to his forehead, lining the X-scar and making it glisten. Every second felt like an added pound, every moment of silence grew with impatience, every pale blue hair on his body trembled in anticipation, every-

"Oh with _hell_ with this!" Saix lunged out of the shadow in a fleeting move and recovered quickly.

At first, he didn't notice anything unusual, but then he spotted the odd thing out. It took a few spare moments for Saix's mind to filter out what stood before him, shocked expression and all on his face.

Saix muttered on word: "_Shit._"

-

Xigbar crumpled his newspaper in a grip. Xaldin twitched at the noise, and turned to the one-eyed man.

"What is it now?" Xaldin asked in a grumpy-like voice.

"I don't know, dude…" Xigbar replied, "I've been having all these fellow-Nobody-dudes-being-taken-out-one-by-one tingly senses all day."

"Hmph."

---

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Is it actually fair to leave a chapter on a cliff hanger when I hadn't updated in over… THREE or more months??? NO, it isn't. But, I don't feel that it's right to continue this little chapter here, even though it isn't exactly Demyx-circling or something like that… even though this story IS suppose to be about him…**

**Anyways, I am seriously going to try to get at least ONE MORE chapter up during the following week. AT LEAST. But then, I most likely lost most of the readers who gave me such nice views and reviews. T.T I feel guilty now. DX**


	3. Lazy Days To BrainSplurgin' Chaos

**Disclaimer: As said in Chapter One.**

**Warnings: Okay, this chapter contains somewhat minor swearing, a tiny, tiny bit of environment violence, VERY unintentional OOCness, English language issues, a Chapter that seriously wrote most of itself besides some paragraphs, and the probability that your head will be throbbing after you read it. X.X **

**Summary: (Using summary I used for Ch. 1) ****Simple. ... Okay, maybe not simple. It will be a bit hard to explain. The WHOLE plot is that the Organization has been whisked away to a world they didn't even know existed, Demyx is nowhere to be found, and they are being taunted by someone who looks a **_**whole lot**_** like him... But isn't him...?**

**Chapter's Summary…: Okay then… **_**READ THIS PART IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON IN THIS CHAPTER:**_** Yeah… Basically, this chapter went back in time a bit, for the first part that relates to Ch. 1, then in the middle it relates to Ch. 2, and then it goes on to be Ch. 3. Sort of. Kind of. Maybe. Yeah…**

**. Author's note at end of chapter…**

---

Xigbar crumpled up his newspaper and, with a sigh, threw the newspaper ball through a dark portal. The swirling mass disappeared with the ball. "I swear, man," he mumbled, resting his black boots on the white table in front of him, "There's nothing _exciting_ and _adventurous_ going on for us, nowadays."

Behind him, Xaldin turned from his sight-seeing of Kingdom Hearts to lazily glare at Xigbar. "Does it _really _look like I care, Xigbar?" Xaldin asked in a droning voice.

The one-eyed Nobody replied, "Does it _really_ look like I was talking to you, Breezy-Braids?" Xigbar smirked at the nickname he made up on the spot, showing off a bit of his pointy white teeth.

At the mention of the nickname, Xaldin made a rather menacing glare at the one-eyed man, turning around to completely face Xigbar. "Oh," he said in a dangerous tone, "Then who were you talking to, _Xiggy_?"

A moment of paused thinking passed, and then Xigbar replied, "As if I'm gonna respond to _that_! Only the Organization's Water Boy can do that!" Xigbar dropped his boots to the floor as he responded, sitting up straight and putting one hand under his chin.

Xaldin made a small, sly smile, saying, "Oh, but didn't you just respond right now, Xigbar?"

Xigbar opened his one good eye in a wide realization, but then said, "Like-I-said! I wasn't talking to you anyways!" He looked around the Grey Room, and saw no one else was in the "living room" of the Castle That Never Was with the two Nobodies. "Err…" Xigbar looked to where Xaldin stood, and saw that the braided-haired man was starting to look smug.

Sensing his pride at the stake, Xigbar made a quick wave of his hand and brought out a portal right above the couch next to his couch. A yell of surprise came from the portal, and Luxord came falling out of it with his arms flailing about and landed right onto the couch. "Oof!" the blonde man puffed out on impact.

"See!" exclaimed Xigbar, motioning his hand toward the confused Luxord, "I was talking to the Organization's newbie: Luxord! Isn't that right, Luxy?"

The blonde-haired man studied his surroundings first, then saw that he was laying stomach-down on a white couch, and then saw Xigbar smiling a pointy white smile in his direction. In the poor Gambler's opinion, Xigbar positively looked like the Devil with the sort of face the eye-patched man put on. "You're just missing the black tuxedo and the red boutonnière, sir," Luxord thought aloud.

"Say what?" Xigbar said in a blank voice.

A sound that sounded like the bastard between a cough and a deep chuckle escaped from Xaldin's throat, and the Whirlwind Lancer said, "Well, Xigbar, you hardly ever fail to amuse me in your strange ways." That being said, Xaldin summoned up a portal for himself, and before he walked into it, he turned to Xigbar and stated, "Be glad I'm not the type to tell Xemnas about some member's misuse of the dark Corridors, such as that little demonstration you just did." Then he strolled into the portal, and the portal disappeared after him.

Xigbar could only look at the place where Xaldin had stood, then dropped his head in defeat with an "Ugh…"

Luxord twiddled around his fingers for a bit, and then righted his body into a sitting position facing Xigbar. Eleven seconds of awkward silence later… "So… How… were you able to do such a thing?"

Xigbar looked up from his dramatic-nonexistence-pose-of-hurt-pride and said, "Do what?"

The blonde Nobody motioned with his gloved hands in an almost comical way, saying, "The… Corridor. Yes, the Corridor you had me come through. How were you able to… summon it?"

"Still a bit slow on the words, huh? I guess not surprising, with you just being 'born' a couple of days ago," Xigbar lamented to himself. "Well… um… I can't actually explain it to someone else, really. It's just something you automatically know how to _do_, know what I mean?"

Luxord slowly shook his head and answered, "No."

Xigbar rubbed the back of his head like a certain red-headed flamer person and said, "Huh… Err, you'll get it eventually. I'm not exactly the type that teaches neophytes anyways, dude."

"Oh… I suppose that is… understandable," Luxord answered. He took out a small deck of cards with the Organization's insignia drawn on their top covers and started to shuffle them in his hands. Xigbar watched him shuffle in mild interest, the look of absolute boredom written on his face. The Grey Room became quieter as the clipping sounds of Luxord's cards became the only sound in the room. Beyond the wide and open windows of the room, a dim glow of orange began to appear without either man noticing its sudden flash.

"Do you know how to play… Black Jack?" Luxord inquired, holding his deck of cards in just one hand.

Xigbar perked at the words, and said, "You mean the game Twenty-One? If it's that, I'm in for the playing." As Xigbar said those words, a high-pitched, whirling sound began to fill the air outside, but neither Nobody heard the sound.

Luxord smirked a bit, and then replied, "No, my companion. This Black Jack is not Twenty-One. This Black Jack is more like… what you would say… a shedding-type of game. It's not that hard to explain actually… But… How about you learn along the way then, eh?"

Raising an eyebrow, Xigbar leaned a bit forward and said, "I'm no old dog that's keen to learning new tricks, but, what the heck." He crossed his arms in a teach-me-what-you-got-to-teach-me fashion.

A swirling mass of darkness appeared on the third couch opposite of Luxord, and then Xaldin appeared sitting on the couch as the portal vanished. "You're right about one thing about this Castle, Xigbar," Xaldin said, crossing his own arms, "there's nothing _out-of-the-usual_ happening for us today."

Xigbar smiled and replied, "See? What did good Numeral 2 tell you?" Luxord started to distribute the cards evenly, an even amount of cards for himself, Xigbar and Xaldin. "Ooh!" Xigbar exclaimed, "Looks like our Gambler here is bringing everyone into the game!"

Outside, the black clouds of the eternal storm parted to reveal a clear sky of black, blue and stars, the pitter-patter of the rain ebbing away to reveal silence beyond the cool glass. Yet again, no one noticed this new development.

Xaldin chuckled and said with a sneer, "I would have brought munny is I knew this was going to turn out to a card-game-day. So, what are the stakes?"

Luxord looked up from his distributing, and Xigbar let out a heartless laugh, saying, "Nah, dude! This game we're about to play doesn't have…" The expression on his face slowly wiped off to be replaced by a more concentrated one.

Then, Xigbar sort of grimaced, as if hearing a distant cry of help that had been muted to his ears. "Hrm…" he wondered.

"Yes, Xigbar?" Xaldin asked, straightening out his part of the deck in between his hands.

The one-eyed Nobody thought for a bit, and then slowly let out his answer. "… Nothin'. Just had this chill, like a fellow teaser is being mauled right now…"

"Humph." Xaldin turned to Luxord and asked, "So, what is this 'game' we're playing, then?"

-

"I can't believe I threw away my newspaper!" Xigbar groaned to himself. He stomped around the Grey Room in an empty huff, thinking on what to do next since the card game had been done and over with already. Xaldin had run off in search of something to amuse him, and wherever Luxord had gone to was anyone's guess.

Xigbar folded his hands behind his heads and walked toward the cold clear glass of the Room's windows. From the inside, he noticed the lack of water activity and the emptiness of the World's sky without its clouds. "Dang…" Xigbar muttered.

"Err, Xigbar?"

The Sharpshooter twisted his body around, guns out and ready and targeting Luxord's forehead. Luxord didn't even flinch from the sudden action. His facial expression dropping at the bleak reaction, Xigbar dropped his guns by his sides and had them vanish in purple flashes. "Yes, Luxy?"

Luxord sighed and handed Xigbar a newspaper that had the little green rubber band still wrapped around it. While Xigbar gleamed at the sight of it, held it in his hands and started to fiddle with the green rubber band, Luxord explained, "Xaldin said you usually like to read other… 'World's' news, so I decided to give you this. I believe I was holding it when I was… discovered."

Xigbar finally took off the rubber band and opened up the newspaper to spread it out. Its articles almost covered his entire upper body. "So, you were holding this when you got mobbed by the Heartless?" Xigbar asked, his eyes beginning to scan the words of the columns.

"Yes," Luxord answered. "…I think." He walked back to the hallway exit of the room, his boots clipping on the white floor.

Eyes still scanning the papers, Xigbar mumbled to himself, "Gotta teach that guy how to use portals as shortcuts…" He walked himself to a single seat chair and plopped into the chair.

A few minutes later, Xaldin came back into the picture, except with a face that had bother-me-and-I'll-stab-you-with-all-six-of-my-lances-biatch written all over it. He walked over to where Xigbar sat reading Luxord's newspaper and sat himself down into the couch next to the Sharpshooter. Xaldin let out a deep breath of emotionless and eyed the newspaper. He then started to face toward the ceiling, as if the ceiling panels were more interesting than the paper.

This continued on for at least ten more minutes, and then Xigbar broke the monotony of it by widening his good eye and putting the paper down a little.

Xigbar crumpled his newspaper in a grip. Xaldin twitched at the noise, and turned to the one-eyed man.

"What is it now?" Xaldin asked in a grumpy-like voice.

"I don't know, dude…" Xigbar replied, "I've been having all these fellow-Nobody-dudes-being-taken-out-one-by-one tingly senses all day."

"Hmph."

Xigbar straightened out the crumbly part of the newspaper, and then lazily looked out the window for a random glance. Nothing particular really, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing adventurous going on for him, or anything exciting, or anything…

His mouth slightly dropped open, and his eye widened in shock. Xaldin gave no attention to Xigbar and continued to look at the ceiling.

"…dude…"

"Honestly, why did we use white ceiling panels for our roof?"

"Dude…"

"I mean, I suppose it's cheaper on the worlds we had gotten all these supplies from for the castle, but these panels actually _appear_ cheap."

"Dude…!"

"I say we should do an absolute remodel of this Castle, just for the heck of it, and get rid of these ugly-looking ceiling panels. What do you say, Xigbar?"

"I say this: _DUDE!!! WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE!!!"_

Xaldin twitched and was about to say, "Say what?" but Xigbar had shoved the man over couch before he could say it, and just in time to "safely" witness one pure window pane shatter as a black tree easily flew through it.

"What the f-" Xaldin stammered, but then another black tree crashed into the white couches where Xigbar and Xaldin once sat in, and its crashing noise blocking out that last word. The ceiling panels started to fall from the ceiling, crashing onto the men's heads and plastering their dark hair white.

"Ow! OW!" Xigbar yelped. Dusting off his hair with trembling hands, the Nobody muttered, "So. Not. _Cool_."

Xaldin popped his head out from his crouching position, and asked at the wrong moment, "Is it over- _GAAAAAAAAH_!!!!"

The moment he said "it" a gi-normous, glowing white hand reached through the broken and shattered window King Kong style and grabbed a mostly shocked Xaldin. "HOLY SH-"

"_XALDIN!"_ Xigbar screamed as he watched his companion be carried out the window by the white hand. Xigbar jumped to his feet and summoned his snipers. Or, at least Xigbar tried to summon them. Instead, he was left gawking at the thing that held Xaldin in its palm and slightly and nonexistent-ly surprised that he had no guns in his own two hands. "What the hell?" He looked down to his black gloved fingers to see what the problem was.

Xaldin's screaming/cries/shrieks/yelps/cursing stopped, which made Xigbar glance in his direction to see in time that the glowing hand had come back, this time reaching out for _him_.

Before he even had the time to summon a portal or manipulate space just a bit for a quick escape, the hand wrapped its fingers around him and squished his arms to his sides. Xigbar struggled against the stony fingers of the hand as it pulled him into the night sky, pulling him upwards all the way to where its "face" was.

At first sight, Xigbar couldn't make out any distinct features on the "face" as he struggled. As he calmed down though, the "face" became more recognizable, with distinct high cheek bones, a strong sharp chin, glowing orange, combed-back hair…

"_Lexaeus?"_ Xigbar gasped. The "face" grunted in reply. Xigbar practically went pale at the response.

"Hey, Xiggy! Don't forget me now!" sang a cheery, familiar voice. As if an invisible string was pulling at Xigbar's sight, Xigbar began to focus on the owner of the voice who stood on the broad shoulder of "Ultra-Lexaeus", waving one hand to get Xigbar's attention and the other hand holding onto a glowing hair strand for support.

What, not who, stood there was a young man with an oddly-shaped guitar on his back. Xigbar stared, seeing a young man who looked very much like Demyx, but seeing a complete stranger at the same time. The appearance of this "Demyx" was so radical that Xigbar couldn't even think it as a Demyx.

The Demyx-thing put his finger on his chin in wonder and said aloud, "Wait, why did I call you Xiggy? I don't even know you!" He then laughed at his own comment, a laugh that sent a cold chill down Xigbar's spine and made Ultra-Lexaeus grunt with disproval.

Xigbar continued on staring, and opened his mouth, and then closed it.

The Demyx-thing caught him staring, and waved a finger at him, saying, "Hah! You shouldn't stare at people, you know! It's rude!"

Twitching in his eye, Xigbar opened his mouth.

"Yes?" Demyx-thing said, motioning with his hands to continue on.

Xigbar screamed, "_Who the __**HELL **__are you two?!"_

"Owie!" Demyx-thing exclaimed, picking his ear out with a pinky, "Don't go screaming at others, yeesh!"

The Demyx-thing then turned to Lexaeus and said, "Big Stone Guy, you know what do." He snapped his fingers, and leapt off the shoulder into the open Castle window. "Time to get the newbie!" he chanted before disappearing.

"Well, _shit!_" Xigbar cursed. He turned his attention to Ultra-Lexaeus and tried to reason with the giant, saying, "Lex, you know me, damn it! I can hear my arms starting to crack! Get your fingers off me already!"

For a tense moment full of relief, Xigbar thought the Ultra-Lexaeus was actually going to comply to his plea as the giant lowered his arm. But then, the truly disturbing happened in the next moment, which shattered any Nobody's hope of escaping.

The mouth of Ultra-Lexaeus' face split open at the corners, and the teeth cracked and moved to become a white halo. The top part of his head leaned backwards as the jaw remained in place, revealing a gaping black hole as his throat, a tunnel that looked too much like the Rabbit Hole from Alice in Wonderland.

In horror and guilty-interest did Xigbar stare at the process, until Ultra-Lexaeus started to raise Xigbar to his throat. Realizing what's going to happen next, Xigbar began to babble, "_Dude! There is no fucking way you're actually going to-"_

Xigbar reached the space above the giant's exposed throat, and before Xigbar could say, "_GREAT-GRANDMOTHER'S COOKIE DOUGH OF HELL!" _Ultra-Lexaeus tossed him into the "hole".

_La da la da la dada dada la da…_

Xigbar screamed, "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

_... la da la da da da…_

"AAAAAAAAA-"

… _La la LAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!_

"AAAAAAAAA…! "

---

**Author's note: Okay dokay, this whole chapter thingy majiggy took me two whole days to write, and the only reason why I was able to type so much and upload this chapter was because I had a whole lot of free time from this week-long vacation I'm on right now… . So… it's more than likely I won't update for some time… AGAIN. T.T**

**Ugh… my head hadn't throbbed this much since I had to do that research paper on Nature versus Nurture… which was only five days ago! O.o!**

**Oh, and I swear, this chapter wrote itself. I lost control of it when it reached the Luxord-appears part, and then I realized it started to all make sense, so I just let it continue. :) **** It's so weird how that happens. -.-'  
**

**End of Author's note.**


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